Damon's True Love
by DamonWinchester31
Summary: What if Damon intended to save someone other than Katherine when he went into the tomb? What if back in 1864 Damon loved someone else? Someone no one else ever new he was with, not back then or now. How will the gang react to this surprising turn of events? Find out about Damon's forbidden love and read as Damon finally gets to be with his true love. Damon/OC.
1. Chapter 1

"Damon could you slow down?'' Elena asked as she followed Damon into the dark tomb.

"Maybe you should try speeding up." He replied nonchalantly as he continued to walk further into the tomb. "Where is she?" he asked rhetorically, rummaging through the tomb.

"Do you see her?" Elena inquired but Damon ignored her question. Suddenly, Elena heard him whisper 'Martha' in a relieved tone before rushing off using his vampire speed.

"Damon" She yelled after him not liking the prospect of being alone in creepy tomb. She walked onwards to catch up with him picking up her pace to practically a jog. When she found she was surprised to find him cradling a beautiful black skinned women who appeared to be in her early twenty's or late teens in his arms. Now this greatly puzzled Elena, there was no way that was Katherine; Katherine was supposed to look like her. "Damon…" Elena begin not really sure what to say. He ignored her and continued to focus his attention on the girl in his arms, gently slapping her face to wake her up.

Elena knew they didn't have much time and was about to try and say something to him when all of the sudden Stefan appeared by her side. "We have to hurry; we don't have much time until they close the tomb. Elena go back up." She stood still for a second debating whether to listen to him or not before turning around and exiting the tomb. Stefan turned to his brother, "Damon-"he stopped instantly when he noticed the girl in his brother's arms. "Martha?" he said quietly, obviously confused. The dark skinned beauty in question let out a loud groan as she started waking up.

"There you go, come on drink this it'll make you feel better." Damon said gently, still ignoring the people around him. Martha quickly drained the bag although her hunger was not yet satisfied she did feel slightly stronger.

"Damon" she said quietly when she recognized her savior.

"Sssh, save your strength darling everything's gonna be alright." He said picking her up bridal style and beginning to walk out of the tomb. He stopped by his brother who was staring at him in shock. "We can go now?" Damon said with a small smirk on his face, "I have everything I need now."

As soon as Stefan, Damon, and the girl, whose name was Martha, made it out of the tomb the Bennet witches got straight to sealing it. Stefan went to check on Elena while Damon carefully put Martha down on her feet. The girl's eyes snapped to his and without a moment's hesitation their heads inclined towards each other and their lips met. He clutched her to his body, wrapping one arm tightly around her waist to keep her knees from giving in and burying the other in her hair. She molded into his body as they both kissed one another fiercely. Damon kept his arms around her when they finally pulled away for air. He rested his forehead against hers as a small smile played on his lips.

"I missed you so much." Damon said, placing a kiss on her forehead to show his affections. Martha gave a large smile before moving his head and burying it in his chest. "I missed you too." She said against his shirt, hugging him tightly.

Meanwhile, four pairs of eyes watched with mixed feelings as they witnessed the couple interact. Damon soon noticed that all eyes were on him and Martha. He let out a sigh before pulling away and turning to meet the group.

He ignored his brother's confused gaze and firstly turned to the two Bennet witches who had helped him. "Thank you." He said, "I'm very grateful for what you've done, you can go now." The witches both nodded to him before saying their goodbyes to Elena and Stefan and then leaving.

"Now," Damon turned to his brother and Elena, "I think we'll be heading home." He said picking up Martha in his arms. He was about to speed off when Stefan's voice stopped him. "Wait," Damon rolled his eyes, not turning to look at Stefan as he spoke but since he didn't keep moving, Stefan saw it as a sign to continue talking "Aren't you going to explain to me what's going on? I mean...What the hell, Damon? I thought you were searching for Katherine. Was she even in there? And why did you save Martha instead? Why did you kiss her? She was our slave, Damon!"

Damon whipped his head back to stare Stefan in the eye sending him a deadly glare. "Don't you ever call her that again." He commanded in a low voice his shoulders started to shake in anger.

"Damon…" Stefan started realizing he hit a nerve and not wanting to make his brother angrier.

"Damon it's ok." Came a small voice from Damon's arms. Damon's eyes snapped to hers and she brought a gentle hand to cup his face. "Let it go Damon, he didn't mean it like that he's just confused. Now please take me home." His eyes softened and he nodded turning back to look at Stefan. "I'll explain everything later…I promise." And with that he sped off into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

Finally arriving at the Salvatore Boardinghouse, Damon rushed upstairs to his bedroom and placed Martha gently down on his bed. He left her there as he hurried down to the basement to collect some blood bags for her and was back by her side in the blink of an eye.

"Here." He said handing the blood bags to her, "Drink this; it'll make you feel better." She accepted it and then hungrily tore it open, draining it completely. She continued to empty the rest of the bags before her black eyes turned back into their beautiful hazel shade and the veins disappeared on her face.

"Are you still hungry? If you are I could go out and get some more or worst case we could find some human for you to feed on. Or we could-"

"I'm fine, Damon." Martha said interrupting his rambling. She took her hands and placed them on either side of his face, looking deep into his eyes. "All I want right now is to be with you. I missed you."

"I missed you too, Mar" Damon croaked out before he pulled her towards him, crashing his lips onto hers. He lowered her back down onto his bed and covered her body with his own. She kissed him back just as desperately, her arms circling around his muscular back as she clung to his body. His lips found her neck as he sucked and kissed every inch of it, reveling in the small moans of appreciation coming from his lover beneath him. She roughly grabbed him by the hair, pulling his lips back to hers and there tongues danced in the familiar pattern both had come to miss. Suddenly a door slammed downstairs and Damon reluctantly pulled away from Martha. "As much as I would love to continue this, I'm pretty sure Stefan and Elena just got back and we do kinda owe them an explanation."

The two walked downstairs to find Stefan and Elena sitting on the couch.

"I know I owe you an explanation Stef but what's she doing here." Damon said rudely.

"Oh come on Damon! You come out of the tomb with a girl that's not Katherine and you don't expect me to be curious."

"That's funny I thought my question was directed towards Stefan."

"Damon, come on." Stefan interrupted hoping Damon would just get over it.

"Fine" He finally agreed, "She can stay, but all of her silly little questions are to be kept to herself until I'm finished saying everything."

"She's sitting right here you know." Elena muttered under her breath.

"I heard that."

"Well obviously, you're a vampire. It's kinda to be expected. You know, considering you have super hearing and all."

"Well little miss no it all maybe you should just-"

"For Christ sake could we please get back to the topic at point?" Martha cried out, interrupting the bickering. Both Damon and Elena instantly stopped their arguing. Damon sat on the couch pulling Martha down next to him.

"Alright I guess we'll explain now." Damon stated.

"Yeah

"Well, we'll just start are story from the beginning. Brother, do you remember when Martha came to serve us?"

"Not really. I remember I was really young and Father hired her family to look after us after mom passed."

"That's right. You were about 3 years old. I was 10 and Martha was only a year younger than me. The two of us became very close friends."

"I remember that." Stefan interrupted. "You guys were always like two best friends even as you got older."

"That's because we we're. Father didn't mind are friendship as much when we were young, I bet he was actually glad to not have to entertain me himself, but as we got older he began to become frustrated with why I always hung around with the 'slave girl'. I ignored his complaints about how socializing with them would ruin my reputation and Martha and I continued to be friends. And father didn't really do anything about it. I mean what could he have done? We we're just friends. But in the midsummer of my 18th year we shared a kiss under the stars. That kiss changed everything for us. I had been beginning to develop feelings for her for a while but I realized how impossible it would be to have any sort of romantic relationship between us and I tried and hoped the feelings would go away. They didn't. And after we kissed I realized I could care less if the whole world was against us, I just wanted her. So we decided we would just sneak around. For about two years we were able to keep it a secret, we would meet up at night and go away together during the day. I think some of the other servants may have noticed but none of them commented on it. Everything was going fine until father started to notice us. He didn't know that we were together but he was suspected that since we were so close a relationship could develop between us and of course he didn't want that. Wouldn't want me to tarnish the Salvatore name and all. Ha! Little did he know I already had. And I didn't regret it one bit. Anyways, that's why he sent me off to war, to keep me away from Martha. It was either that or he would sell Martha to a cotton farm in need of slaves, but I refused to let that happen so I went to war." Then Katherine came to stay with us while I was on leave, me and Mar came with a plan. We figured if I showed an interest in someone else Father would no longer think we were together. So that's exactly what I did. I flirted with Katherine and pretended to fall for her and it convinced Father that he had nothing to worry about between Martha and me. And then I found out Katherine was a vampire. Our original plan was just to make sure no one suspected us until I earned enough money to start a business or something on my own and we could move away from Mystic Falls and live out our lives together, however hard they might've been. But when Katherine told me her secret I realized how useful it would be to me. If I let Katherine turn me and then turned Martha after then we could be together forever. I figured if we were vampires it would be a lot easier to be together out in public. I mean with the ability to compel people we could just compel everyone to accept our relationship. I talked to Martha about and after some convincing she finally agreed. So, I stayed with Katherine and pretended to be head over heels in love with her because I needed her to turn me for our plan to work. But the night before the soldiers came to hunt all the vampires down Martha got hurt. We were out horseback riding when she fell off her horse and hit her head on a rock. She was unconscious and there was so much blood I didn't know what to do but I knew I couldn't loose her. So I took her to Katherine and begged her to save Martha. And she did. I have no idea why she did considering she doesn't have a good bone in her body, but she fed Martha her blood and healed her. And then the next day after Katherine was attacked and Stefan and I went to save her I saw Martha get thrown into the tomb along with the other vampires and that's how I knew she was in the tomb. However, I still have no idea how you got turned into a vampire." He said looking to Martha.

"It was an accident actually. I was out running errands in town when all of the sudden guns were getting fired in the shop I was at. I was caught in the cross fire and one of the bullets hit me and everything went black. And then some time later I found myself waking up. I walked outside and I was so confused. The town was completely empty and I had this unyielding hunger deep inside me. I walked back to the house and when I got there the servants rushed me inside, yelling at me for taking so long at the market when there was a dangerous battle going on outside. It was dark and they only had one lantern lit so I guess they didn't notice the blood on my dress or how strangely I was acting." As she continued her face began to fall, tears threatening to escape through her eyes. "I was so hungry and there scent was just so tempting I couldn't help myself. I tried to fight it but when Jeannine, one of the older slaves who always looked out for me, came up to me and asked if I was feeling alright something snapped inside of me. All of the sudden my fangs were buried in her neck and I…I…" She stopped to take a deep breath in and then slowly exhaled. Damon wrapped a comforting arm around her as tears started to fall down her face. Damon suggest she stop, insisting they didn't need to hear the rest, not right then at least, but she continued anyways. "After I realized what I had done I ran. I didn't know where I was going and all of the sudden I was surrounded by a group of men. They must have realized I was a vampire because they attacked me and the next thing I remember is waking up trapped in a tomb." When she finished talking everyone else was silent. After a few minutes Stefan finally spoke up.

"So, if you were never in love with Katherine, why did you tell everyone she was the one you were trying to get out of the tomb?" His question was directed towards Damon.

"Because Steffy," Damon started "It was 1864, as much as I hate to say it I doubt anyone would have cared that a black vampire was trapped in a tomb. Katherine however was a well-known vampire that I'm sure a lot of others wanted to find her too. I figured I'd get more help and information if I said I was trying to get Katherine out."

"But you could have at least told me! I mean for god's sake I'm your brother and I never once even expected it to be anyone but Katherine and this whole time it was all for Martha instead. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well we weren't exactly best friends Stefan. We may have been brothers but after we became vampires we might as well had been strangers we barely kept in contact and for the majority of our vampire lives we hated each other. Anyways, if I had told you I would've had to tell you everything and it wasn't really something I liked talking about." This shut Stefan up. He nodded his head to show he understood. The group sat in silence once again until Elena, who had stayed silent the whole time, finally spoke up.

"I'm sorry Damon." She said softly, turning her head to look at him and Martha sitting contently in each other's arms.

"What do you have to be sorry for Elena" Damon asked as his brows furrowed, confusion written on his face.

"It's just… I mean we've all been a little harsh on you. Everyone thought you were this big, bad guy and all but you really aren't. You were just hurt and sad and you missed the person you loved most and I'm sorry that I misjudged you." Damon sat there shocked by Elena's words. He nodded his head to her to show a silent thank you before getting off the couch pulling Martha with him.

"Well it's getting late and not to be crude or anything but I'm dying to take this one to bed" Damon stated with a smirk on his face. "So if there's no more questions well be going." He waited a second before turning around and walking upstairs as Martha followed behind him.

When they finally got upstairs Damon gave Martha a black t-shirt of his to throw on before walking into the bathroom to get ready for bed. When he stepped back into his room a small smile formed on his lips as he looked at his love snuggled up in his bed. He knew she must be exhausted after all the excitement today. She was still pretty weak from having been starved the past 100 plus years. He stood there for a moment, watching her. As stood there he realized he had this weird sensation in the pit of his stomach. It was a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time. It was happiness. Pure happiness and contentment. He crawled in next to her, wrapping his strong arms around her and she tiredly shifted her head to bury in his chest wrapping her arms around him as well. She murmured a drowsy goodnight before quickly falling asleep and before he knew it, Damon too was drifting into a peaceful slumber.


	3. Chapter 3

When Martha woke up the next morning she was pleased to find herself wrapped up in the embrace of her lover. His arms were wrapped protectively around her, one hand resting on her shoulder and the other on her lower back. Her cheek was pressed against his hard chest just below his neck and she inhaled his calming scent of bourbon and musk. She was overjoyed with the contentment of being in his arms once again. She had missed him immensely in the tomb. Although she didn't really remember much of what had gone on in there. After a few years of starving her body kind of shut down and the rest was a blur. She couldn't believe how much time had passed since she was locked in there. Damon hadn't told her what year it was but considering what she's seen so far the world has changed greatly since she was last apart of it, and she couldn't be more happy. It seemed so far that blacks most likely had equal rights. From the way the Elena girl had treated her and the happiness she had seen in Damon's eyes she was willing to guess they would finally be able to be together without being judged.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as Damon started to stir beneath her. "Morning sleepy-head." She said softly when he finally opened his eyes.

He ran both his hands gently up her back before replying "Morning beautiful." He lifted his head off his pillow to bring his lips to hers and kiss her. It started out as a slow, lazy kiss but when she brought her hands to fist his hair the kiss intensified. He flipped them over so he was on to and kissed her hard as he ran his hands up her body greedily. She pulled him closer and her hand left his hair to travel over his sculpted back. Her fingers dug into his skin as his lips moved from her mouth to her neck. He trailed wet kisses across her neck, gently sucking and nipping it making her moan in pleasure. She roughly pulled him back to her mouth by the hair and attacked his mouth with her tongue. He had just begun to raise her shirt, ready to rip it off of her, when suddenly the door opened.

"Oh, god I'm…I-sorry." A shocked looking Stefan said as he realized what he had just interrupted. Martha quickly pulled away from Damon looking incredibly embarrassed but Damon just looked pissed.

"Seriously Stefan, you have the worst timing. Now get out." He yelled practically growling.

"Yeah, yeah I'm going I just wanted to tell you that me and Elena are going to meet the gang at the Grille for lunch later and if you want to bring Martha with to introduce her to everyone you should."

"I'll think about it now leave." Stefan didn't have to be told twice before he hurriedly turned and left the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. "Now were we're we." Damon said seductively, turning back to Martha. He dove in for a kiss but was disappointed when he found a finger blocking her mouth.

"As much as I would rather stay here and finish what we started I want to meet your friends Damon. And before I meet them I have some questions that I need answered."

Damon groaned "Why don't we just skip the whole 'meeting everyone' thing. I mean honestly there barely even my friends."

"Well regardless I would like to meet them. And whether we go to lunch or not I would still want my questions answered."

Damon sighed, giving in "Questions about what?"

"Well for starters how about what the year is? Or if blacks finally have equal rights. Or anything else about this time period that changed."

"Ok how bout this." Damon started as he slowly got up and out of bed. "Why don't you go take a shower or bath and I'll find some clothes for you to change into and when you're all cleaned up we can talk about everything downstairs, sound good?"

She smiled, getting out of bed as well "Sounds perfect." She kissed him on the cheek and then rushed into the bathroom and starting the bath. He smiled as he briefly stood staring at the door she disappeared to before turning and exiting his room mentally wondering where he could get clothes for her on short notice.

* * *

When Martha finally finished her bath she walked out of the bathroom to find a pile of clothes on the foot of Damon's bed and changed into them. She thought the clothes were a bit strange but considering what she had so far seen everyone else wearing she assumed it was probably what everyone wore nowadays.

She walked downstairs to find Damon sitting on the couch with his common glass of bourbon in hand, staring at the unlit fireplace. He looked over to her as she walked to sit down next to him and she couldn't help but blush at the way his eyes travelled over her.

"Like what you see?" She asked making him smirk.

"Maybe just a bit." He smiled at her making her once again blush and look down at her lap.

"You're sure it's not too…provocative?" She asked shyly.

"No… the fashion nowadays is a lot different today. Actually what your wearing is considered pretty conservative." She was wearing a pair of black jeans and a white tank top with a black cardigan over it.

"Well times certainly have changed." She said exasperatedly "Which leads me to ask an important questioned. How much time has passed? What year is it Damon?" She turned her body so she was looking directly at him. He let out a low sigh before turning his body towards her as well and replying.

"It's 2010 Mar. It's been 146 years." She let out a small gasp of surprise. She had figured it had been a while but to have missed a whole century. Hell, it was more than a whole century. But what she missed wasn't what made the fact that it had been so long feel sad. It was what Damon had lived through. 146 years he lived searching for a way to save the love of his life. The very thought of how broken and sad Damon must have felt over those years made her heartbreak.

"I'm so sorry Damon." Pools of tears started to form in her eyes but they didn't spill over.

"Hey Mar its ok. I know you missed a lot but-"

"No it's not that." She scooted closer to him placing her hands on either side of his face "You spent 146 years trying to save me Damon. 146 years! I can only imagine what that did to you." Damon pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her back and resting his chin against her shoulder.

"And I would do it all again as long as it had this exact same ending. Hell I would have spent 146 more years searching if it had meant I would get to be with you in the end." She wrapped her arms around him too, clinging to his body as his calming scent surrounded her. They sat like that for a while, just relishing in the fact that they were in each other's arms, before pulling away.

"So, if it's been that long I'm guessing a lot has changed." Martha started, curious to know what the world was now like.

"You could say that for sure. The world's changed a lot since 1864. New inventions, new laws, more wars, culture changes, law changes, but I think my personally favorite is the equality." A large smile spread across his face as he continued on "Everyone is considered equal now, have been since the 1950s. People are barely even prejudice to blacks anymore, or at least no more than some are to other races. Skin color doesn't really matter anymore, I mean for crying out loud are current president is black."

Martha had a smile to match Damon's "That's great! And that means that we don't have to hide our relationship in public anymore right?" She said hopefully.

"Right, and that's not even the best part." He said waggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Public displays of affection are a lot more common nowadays; we could have some fun with that." She merely laughed at what he was suggesting.

"Oh I'm sure we could but I wouldn't get your hopes up, I don't really fancy putting on a show for others." He laughed at her before standing up, pulling her with him.

"Well, unless you have any more dire questions, were supposed to meet everyone at the Grille in," he stopped to look at the time on his watch, "approximately 15 minutes ago." He smirked as a look of shock and panic swept over her face.

"Oh my glory, we're late. What a terrible way to make a first impression. Why didn't you stop me sooner Damon I-"

"Whoa calm down Mar its fine we're not even running that late, and it doesn't matter what they think of you I could care less."

"But I care. We've never been able to be around other people and be a couple at the same time. I want to be able to do that." His eyes soften as she mentioned this, "And if these people are important in Stefan's life then there probably important to you too, you just refuse to admit it because you like looking tough and all." He smirked.

"Maybe your right." She smiled at him. He held out her hand and she grasped on to it. "Or maybe you're wrong. Now let's get going." He walked her outside and up to his car, opening the door for her. He smirked as her face frowned in confusion.

"It's called a car, pretty cool huh?" She still looked confused so he decided to elaborate more "It's kinda like a carriage just without a horse." A look of understanding swept over her features and she nodded as she sat down inside the vehicle. Damon went around the other side to get in and took off towards the Grille, loving the giant smile that spread across Martha's face as she admired the moving car.

* * *

They entered the Grille hand-in-hand as Damon looked around for Stefan and everyone else. He could practically feel how nervous Martha was and he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. He knew she was weary since this was the first time ever she was able to be out in public without being looked at as a slave, she was probably waiting for someone to yell at her or judge her even though it would never come.

He finally spotted everyone at a booth in the corner and gently led Martha over to them.

"Hey Damon, Martha. I'm glad you guys came." Stefan said politely when he noticed Damon and Martha arriving at their table. Elena greeted them too as she scooted over to make room for both of them to sit. They settled in their seats and Martha found all eyes except Damon and Stefan on her. Damon noticed this too and let out a small sigh before speaking up.

"Well I'm assuming Elena and Stefan already informed you of whom this is but just to refresh your memory this is Martha, my girlfriend." He said it firmly to let them know that was all they were getting out of him as too who this girl was to him. "Martha this is Caroline, Bonnie, Matt and Jeremy." He pointed to each one of them as he spoke. They Matt and Jeremy responded with a quiet 'It's nice to meet you' but Bonnie reminded strangely quiet. Caroline on the other hand opened her mouth and never stopped talking. She asked her questions about what she liked and a bunch of other stuff and it would have annoyed Damon if he didn't see the big smile spread across her face. She seemed a bit overwhelmed by all of Caroline's talking at first but now they were settled in a pleasant conversation and she looked just so damn happy. Damon knew she never really had any friends before. Since she spent so much time around him as a kid the other slaves generally ignored her. As much as Damon hated to admit it, Blondie was a good person and would be a good friend to Martha. And as long as she kept making his girl smile like that he could probably afford to suffer through listening to vampire Barbie unrelenting chatter.

Stefan watched with a smile on his face as his brother stared at Martha with a look Stefan could only describe as loving in his eyes. Although Stefan was shocked to find out about Damon and Martha, and a little offended that Damon had never told him, he was glad that Damon had found someone to love. He had seen his brother happier in the past day than he had ever seen throughout their entire lifespan as vampires. He was glad his big brother finally got to be happy.

Stefan wasn't the only one who noticed a change in Damon. The rest of the group was quite shocked to see a kinder side to the older Salvatore. Sure he was still rude and sarcastic, but there was something nicer in him when he was with Martha. She kept him in line, yelling at him whenever he was being a jerk and he would just nod his head and smirk at her almost as if he enjoyed her reprimanding him. And they saw a softer side to. Not as openly of course, for Damon wasn't really one to show his affections, but it was still there. They saw the loving look in his eyes as he watched her speak. And the gentle touch he used to comfort her. And the playful glee that coursed through his body as he whispered in her ear. And lets not forget the raw desire heard in his voice as he announced that they were leaving before quickly pulling his beautiful girlfriend out of the restaurant.

Something had changed in Damon. That was for sure.


	4. Chapter 4

Martha woke up to the delicious smell of bacon and eggs swirling around the room. The sun was seeping through the closed curtain and as she opened her eyes she noticed the other side of the bed was empty. She slowly got climbed out of bed before rushing to put on one of Damon's long sleeve shirts when the cold air hit her skin.

Martha made her way downstairs, stopping to lean against the doorway of the kitchen when she found Damon cooking at the stove. His shirtless back was turned to her and she took a moment to admire his lean muscles as he worked on preparing the heavenly smelling food.

She walked towards him and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his back as she breathed in his musky scent.

"Hmmm it smells good." She said groggily against his back.

"Course it does. I made it didn't I." He replied with a cocky smirk. She didn't respond, just let out a light giggle sending a rush of love through Damon's body. He loved moments like these, when things were peaceful. Ever since he had gotten her back his life seemed perfect. It was perfect.

He turned to face her and she adjusted her arms to wrap around his neck and pull him into a deep kiss. She meant for it to be a short and sweet good morning kiss but it quickly intensified as it generally does between the two of them. She found herself being pushed backwards and her back collided with the island counter behind them. Her hands went to travel through Damon's soft hair as he greedily ran his hands up and down her body. He pulled her closer and she let out a long moan when she felt his arousal press against her abdomen.

He growled playfully and quickly lifted her up onto the counter. She followed by wrapping her legs tightly around his waist, pulling him as close as possible. Suddenly the smell of burnt food hit their nostrils and Damon let out a low growl before pulling away to try and save his breakfast.

"Shit." He cursed as he quickly grabbed the pan of burnt eggs while trying to save his pancakes as well. Martha just laughed as she watched him scramble around to try and save his precious meal.

"Well, I guess we'll just be having blood for breakfast." Damon said as a smirk played out on his face. "Guess that'll just mean we have more time to continue what we started." He leaned in for a kiss but she pulled away before his lips could touch hers.

"Actually I have to go get dressed." She smiled at the confused look on his face.

"Why on earth would you do that? If anything your already over dressed, I think I can fix that." He went to kiss her again but she pulled away just like before.

"I have to get dressed because I'm going shopping with Caroline and Elena." A look of disgust came over his face and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Ew, why would you possibly want to do that when you could stay here with me and enjoy my irresistible company?"

"Well as irresistible as your company is Damon I would like to be able to go out in public, and to do that I'm going to need a wardrobe that consist of more than one outfit."

"Or you could just stay here in which you don't need a wardrobe at all." He suggested somewhat hopefully, she just shook her head.

"I'll admit, your argument is convincing. But I'm going so suck it up mister." She gave him a quick kiss leaving to go change.

* * *

"Oh my God you have to try on this one! It would look perfect on you." Caroline squealed, shoving a beautiful dark purple dress into Martha's already full arms. Martha grinned at Caroline's enthusiasm. They had been shopping for a while and /Martha had successfully managed to get a fair amount of present day clothes to wear. They were planning on being done and just going to get lunch at the Grille but as they were walking, they past this cute little dress shop that had apparently just opened and Caroline insisted they went in.

Martha found herself immensely enjoying herself with Caroline and Elena. They were both very kind people and Martha found it easy to talk to them. She had never really had any friends other than Damon before and talking to Damon was different than talking to Elena and Caroline. She loved Damon and he would always be her best friend but it was nice to have friend that were girls to talk to.

Martha had tried on the beautiful purple dress Caroline had picked out and she was immediately showered with compliements.

"You have to buy that Martha. It's perfect for you." Caroline said excitedly.

"I don't know." Martha started unsurely "I like it a lot but what would I wear it too?"

"I'm sure they'll be something." Elena suggested "There's constantly balls and formal parties in this town and I'm sure Damon would love to take you to one."

"Damon would be lucky to take you to one." Caroline started. "Honestly I don't know how he ever managed to get you, you're so nice and kind and exactly the opposite of Damon." Martha sighed, Caroline was very nice but Martha had noticed that she seemed to have a lot of hatred directed towards Damon. Not that Martha could blame her. From what she had heard, Damon hadn't exactly been a nice person during the 146 years he spent without her. Even now Martha could tell he wasn't the same man she fell in love with. She still loved him of course; actually she probably loved him more. But his long life had hardened him.

"He wasn't always like that. Mean and uncaring and what not." Martha began. "When I first met him he was one of the sweetest people I ever met. He was the only person who didn't look down on me. He was polite and kind and the best friend anyone could have asked for. If anyone, I'm the lucky one. I still have no idea what he saw in me. I was just a slave, but yet he still risked his life just to be with me." Her eyes glazed over as she remembered her many insecurities she had felt during her time as a human, constantly fearing Damon would decide she wasn't worth it and leave, but he never did. "Damon's a good person he's just made some bad choices but can you really blame him, he's had a tough life, as a human and as a vampire."

Caroline looked guiltily at the floor, she had never really thought of it like that. Sure she knew Damon's life was kinda tragic but she always felt as if he deserved it, but now that she thought about it he really didn't, of all people he deserved some happiness in his life.

"I'm glad he got you back." Caroline said, looking up at Martha. Martha smiled at Caroline.

"I'm glad too."

Soon after the three girls left the shop, after buying Martha's dress of course, and then went off to enjoy a relaxing lunch at the Grille.

* * *

Damon sat on the couch, traditional bourbon in hand as he stared into the dimly lit fireplace. Stefan entered the room and although Damon noticed he made no attempt to acknowledge his presence. Stefan went to poor himself a glass of bourbon before going to sit beside his brother.

"And who said you could drink my alcohol little brother? If I recalled your technically still too young to drink being eternally 17 and all." Damon questioned jokingly, keeping his eyes on the dancing flames in the fireplace as he spoke. Stefan ignored his teasing.

"I'm sorry." Damon's smirked faltered at the serious tone in his brother's voice. He turned to face him.

"About what?' Damon questioned.

"For being so hard on you all the time, for not understanding why you wouldn't just do what Father asked you to, for making you think that you had to hide your relationship from me when we were humans. I always thought you were the bad brither but I was wrong, I was." Damon stared at his brother's crestfallen face before turning back to stare at the fire.

"Don't be sorry Stef, we're brothers. You weren't being mean by not approving of my lifestyle, you we're just looking out for me. And I didn't keep my relationship from you because I thought I had too, i just didn't want to tell anybody about are relationship, it was our secret." They sat in silence for a moment before Stefan spoke again.

"I'm glad you found her, Damon. She makes you happy and you of all people deserve some happiness in your life." Damon nodded and gave a small smile to his brother. Stefan stood up to leave but Damon's voice caused him to stop before he left the room.

"Your wrong Stefan. You aren't a bad brother, as a matter of fact your probably one of the best damn brothers ever and don't you forget that." Damon didn't look at Stefan as he spoke but they both knew how sincere he was and Stefan was grateful for that. They might never be the kind of brothers who openly talked about their feelings, but they did love each other, they always would. Stefan left the room with a smile on his face much similar to the one that adorned Damon's face as he stared at the fire, stirring his bourbon in his hand.

* * *

Martha came home later that night to find Damon lying naked in his giant bath tub and without a word she undressed and joined him. He pulled her close wrapping his muscular arms around her tender belly and she leaned her head back against his firm chest. The warm water slowly turned cold as he listened to her talk about her day, relishing in listening to her talk. He was glad to know that she had a nice day out but was even happier that she was back in his arms. After their bath they decided to sleep, the long day of shopping had worn out Martha who was still recovering from her time in the tomb. Underneath the covers of Damon's warm bed she draped her arm over Damon's waist and rested her head against his chest. He sighed contently as he pressed a kiss to her head and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, running his hand soothingly up and down her back as she drifted into a peaceful slumber.


	5. Chapter 5

Damon Salvatore was having a bad day. To start things off he woke up this morning to find his bed empty, aside from himself, for his girlfriend was spending the majority of the day with her friends of the female gender. Now this didn't really upset Damon or anything, he knew how much Martha enjoyed hanging out with Caroline and Elena. But any day he had to spend away from her left him feeling somewhat empty. However this was only the beginning of his bad day.

When he went to the cellar to get his morning breakfast of blood he found that there stash was running low and decided he would just drink from some human instead. He wasn't sure when he would be able to stop at the hospital again and didn't want Martha to have to find blood in a source other than a blood bag.

He ran into a problem however when the girl he tried to compelled ended up having vervain in her system. She was one of the councilman's daughters so he probably should have seen it coming. Luckily, he hadn't actually drunken from her before attempting to compel her so he didn't have to worry about anyone finding out his secret. He did however get arrested for offending the girl. After trying to compel her to go home with him and have some fun, and those were not exactly the words he used, she slapped him and made a big scene. He probably could've gotten away with just a warning or something but Damon being Damon decided to yell at a cop who had come over to see what was going on. The yelling turned into a fight and long story short Damon got arrested for disrespecting an officer.

He would have just compelled his way out of that but he knew the sheriff Liz knew plenty about vampires and wouldn't have been surprised if she had vervained them all. So instead he had to sit in a prison cell for a good 4 hours before Liz showed up and recognized him, telling the cops to let him go and that he was a good guy. Ha! If only she knew.

From prison he decided to go to the bar. He was in desperate need of a drink. And blood considering he hadn't eaten all day. All he wanted was a chance to relax and then go home but of course his life was never that easygoing. He ran into vampires when he was at the bar. Some tomb vampires. They cornered him outside in the Grille parking lot and attacked. Damon ended up killing them all of course but didn't leave the battle without wounds. They actually managed to do a lot of Damage and he still hadn't had blood all day so his wounds weren't healing as quickly as usual.

He headed home as quickly as possible fully intent on draining the remaining blood bags and then just going straight to bed but once again was met with an unpleasant surprise. Katherine fucking Peirce. She was back in town and so kindly decided to grace the Salvatore's with her presence.

His little confrontation with Katherine left him extremely pissed. She not only made him feel weak and inexperienced but she also brought Martha into the conversation, apparently she had found out she was out of the tomb. She shared her opinions on how Martha and he would never work and no one would ever love him. Now if this hadn't already pissed Damon off enough she finally broke his calm façade when she threatened Martha, Damon reacting by literally kicking her out of the boarding house and luckily she decided her fun was over and actually left.

So that was why Damon was now sitting in front of the fire, clenching the bourbon in his hand tightly. He had blood on his face from the blood bags he had messily torn into earlier and his eyes were glazed over in thought about what Katherine had said to him. On top off that his shirt was ripped up and he had dry blood all over him from his little quarrel with the tomb vampires. He was also pretty sure he had something small lodged in his lower back because there was this aching pain that still hadn't gone away but he wasn't able to reach the spot and quite frankly didn't care.

This is the state Martha found him in when she got home later that night. She walked in with a large smile on her face, ready to tell Damon all about her wonderful day but that smile quickly disappeared when she saw her boyfriend sitting on the couch, reeking of booze and blood. His body was tense and motionless. He hadn't even looked up when she came in; he just sat there, staring at the fire, completely still.

Martha placed her bags gently on the ground before walking over to the dark haired vampire. "Damon." She said gently in a cautious tone. His head snapped up and his eyes found hers, a look of relief replacing the look of pain and anger. She lifted her hand to touch his cheek, standing right in front of him now. He closed his eyes, slowly exhaling as if all the tension was leaving his body. He lifted his hand to cover the dark skinned hand resting against his cheek, pressing it against him.

"Are you ok?" Martha asked, her voice laced with concern. His eyes opened slowly, making contact with her own. He stayed silent, not replying. Suddenly, he moved his hand to wrap around her waist and pulled her to him so she was now straddling his lap. Both of his arms encircled her petite body and she felt his body relax against her own. She was somewhat surprised by his actions, and by his mood. She had seen every one of Damon's personalities but this was a side of him she hadn't seen since she got out of the tomb. This was his vulnerable side. Even as a human he didn't show it often. She knew he must really be upset if he was letting his more sensitive side come out. This is why she wrapped one arm around his waist and pressed her other hand against the back of his head. He buried his face in her chest, letting her scent overwhelm him as she gently played with his dark locks of hair.

Neither knew how long they sat there, not once moving from their positions. The comfortable silence was broken by Martha's soft voice.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked kindly, knowing that he wasn't always the type of person to talk about feelings and what not. He groaned.

"My day has literally been hell." She smiled when she heard the playful tone laced in his voice. He was in a better mood now she was sure of that.

"Well I kinda figured that. What happened to you?" She questioned referring to the blood on his clothes.

"I was attacked by some vamps that escaped from the tomb." A concerned look swept over her features. "Don't worry I'm fine aren't I, and I even managed to kill the bastards." She brought her hand to cup his face again, his blue eyes staring into hers.

"Why'd they attack you?" She leaned her head towards his, their foreheads resting against one another's.

"I honestly have no idea, didn't really take the time to ask." His focus slowly moved from their conversation to her lips and he found himself overwhelmed with the desire to kiss her. So he did.

He leaned in and pressed his lips against hers softly. She responded immediately, opening her mouth and giving him the access to explore it. She could practically feel the love in his touch as his hands moved over her body. She brought both her hands to his hair, gripping it tightly as the kiss intensified. He pulled her closer, her breast pressed as close to his chest as possible. The desire they felt for one another quickly increasing.

She ground her hips against him and he let out an animalistic growl before standing up and using his vampire speed to push her up against a wall. He lifted her legs up to his waist, one hand resting underneath them to support her as her thighs clenched his waist. He rubbed his erection against her wet center, emitting a long purr from her. His lips left her mouth and he kissed down the length of her neck, making her moan loudly before roughly pulling his mouth back to her own.

"Why don't we go finish this in the shower?" Martha said breathlessly as he moved back to sucking at the smooth skin of her neck. "You're filthy." He chuckled, causing a delightful feeling to run through her at the feel of his body moving against her own.

"That sounds perfect." He kissed her hard on the lips before using his vampire speed to rush them to his shower, stopping every once in a while to press her against the wall and ravish her mouth with his own.


End file.
